Travelling with kids

Travelling with kids

Saturday 29 January 2005 14.15 EST
First published on Saturday 29 January 2005 14.15 EST

I share John Travolta's secret passion. I can reveal for the first time that when the movie star best known for his role in Grease made a private visit to Disneyland Paris, his favourite ride wasn't Rock 'n' Roll Coaster, but the same as mine - Peter Pan. He enjoyed the gentle carriage flight so much that he stayed on it for two hours, soaring and swishing over the models of London and Paris all lit up at night.

When I visited, of course, I was only allowed one short ride before having to hop out of my carriage and join the queue all over again. But now we can all enjoy the Hollywood star treatment because for a limited period only, Disneyland Paris has introduced Magic Unlimited, which allows visitors to stay on some rides as long as they like.

It's not only at Disneyland Paris where families would welcome a solution to queueing. Perhaps popular places - museums, airports, cinemas - should adopt a two-line system, one for families, and one for people without kids. Both queues could be treated the same, with neither given priority. But parents might feel a bit better about their own kids' all-too-visible irritation at waiting if they were surrounded by other similarly suffering families, and our kids might find other kids standing next to them to play with.

And, hopefully, those without kids wouldn't be so annoyed by ours. The one concession could be making the space for the family queue just a little wider, to accommodate three-in-a-row children and double buggies.

But until this or some similar scheme (suggestions welcome) is invented, we either have to rely on Magic Unlimited or the pull of stardom. Apparently, Travolta also over-indulged on It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. What with that feat and Grease, he's my kids' hero. After the third spin, even Peter Pan was enough for me.